PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear ACSians

Much has happened since the baton was passed to the new Management Council of 2004/2005.   Rather than wait till the next Annual General Meeting before we report on what has taken place, I feel that we should stay in touch with our stakeholders by communicating with them from time to time.

In the last issue of ECHO, we reported on the ACS OBA Teacher’s and Staff Welfare Fund.  This fund serves to provide financial assistance to needy retired teachers who are now in their twilight years. There are presently seven who are receiving monthly assistance.

I  am  pleased to report that the year of ’64 has pledged to donate the net proceeds of the sale of  “Forty Years On-Memoirs of a Schoolteacher" by Ernest Lau, to  this  Fund.  Some old boys have indicated interest in donating to this worthy cause and we hope that more old boys will follow suit.

Besides financial aid, we hope to remember and honour retired ACS teachers on Teacher’s Day, which falls on 1 September.  We have asked the principals of all the schools to invite, on our behalf, all the retired teachers to an evening of fellowship at a barbeque by the ACS  (Barker Road) Shaw Pool.  We invite all old boys who would like to meet up with our old teachers to come. The teachers come for free and for each of us, a charge of $20 to help off-set the cost of the event.

An issue discussed during our bi-monthly meetings is the ACSOBA  membership fee.   The present life-time membership fee is $200 for an old boy who joins before the age of 25 and $500 for one who joins at and above age 25. The annual enrollment has been hovering around the same number from the time membership fee was $50.

One of the arguments raised is that more would like to join at the time they leave school but find the high fees prohibitive. In response, we have decided that Sec4 and Pre-U 2 students can sign-up to be OBA members for a life-time membership of $100, and their membership will only be confirmed upon leaving school.

Membership  fees  provide  our  only  steady source of income.  We must not aggressively cut membership fees or the OBA will operate a fiscal deficit. Our costs have been going up as we try to improve our secretariat, maintain our lounge, and organize more activities for members.

This  will  also be the last issue of ECHO that all members receive by mail.  We have made the Alumni Roundup section available on our website www.acsoba.net.

Members who wish to continue receiving a hard copy of ECHO can either pick this up at the OBA Secretariat located at ACS Barker Road or request for one to be sent (call us at 6259-7860 or e-mail to admin@acsoba.net).  This exercise will help us cut down on mailing costs and put a saving, estimated at $10,000 per year, to better use.

There are many new initiatives, which have been put up by the ACS OBA Management Committee.  Many of these initiatives will die natural deaths if old boys do not support them.   This and future issues of ECHO will highlight some of them  – job attachments for students, sponsorship for excellence in sports, sponsorship of academic scholarships and awards, guardianship for overseas students and many others.

I look forward to your support as we work together to the Glory of God.

The Best is Yet to Be.

 

Ang Peng Tiam